Swivel



Patented June 16, 1936 Mar oFFicE.

SWIVEL John B. Freysinger, New Britain, Conn., assignor to North & Judd Manufacturing Company,

New Britain, Conn.,

necticut a. corporation of Con- Application August 29, 1934, Serial No. 741,909

2 Claims.

This invention relates to snap hooks and has particular reference to the construction and arrangement of the loop or eye thereof.

The aim of the invention is to provide an 5 improved loop or eye for snap hooks which is characterized by its extreme simplicity in construction, the economy with which it may be manufactured, the ease and facility with which it may be assembled on the hook body, and by its strength and durability.

In accordance with the present invention, I provide a very sturdy eye or swivel member constructed from sheet metal at a relatively low cost.

Other objects will be in part obvious, and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth and the scope of the application which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein is shown, for illustrative purposes, one of the embodiments which the present invention may take:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a snap hook with a swivel member constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an edge View of the device;

Fig. 3 is a detail view showing the swivel member in partially formed condition upon the shank of the hook body;

Fig. 4 is a view looking at the bottom of the swivel member as shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the ends of the swivel member connected together; and

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the blank forming the swivel. 4

40 Referring to the drawing in detail, I designates a main body or hook member having, at

one end, a hook II and, at the other end, a

shank I2 terminating in a head I3. The hook is provided with the usual spring tongue I4 an- 45 chored at one end to the shank I2 by a sleeve I5.

The free end of the spring engages the bill of the hook in the usual manner. The sleeve I may comprise a short strip of metal bent around the shank of the main body.

My improved eye I6 is preferably formed from sheet metal by stamping out a blank to the configuration shown in Fig. 6 and then bending the blank to the shape shown in Fig. 1. The blank is preferably in the form of an elongated strip, 55 the side edges of which are concave so that the intermediate portion of the strip is of reduced Width. One end of the blank is notched at opposite sides, as at H. Thus, a T end is formed having a neck portion I8 and a head I9. The other end of the blank is formed with a pair of oppositely disposed generally right-angular fingers 26 so formed and constructed that, when the free ends of the fingers are brought to abutting relation, as shown in Fig. 5, a closed slot 2| is formed. Initially, the free ends of the fingers are spaced apart suiiiciently to permit of the insertion of the neck portion I8 into the slot 2i before the latter is closed. Adjacent the fingered end of the blank is a hole 22 through which the hook of the shank is adapted to be threaded. The eye, after it is blanked out, is bent so as to form a generally flat base portion and a U-shaped portion, as shown in Fig. 3.

To assemble the parts, the hook member ID (before the tongue I4 and the sleeve l5 are assembled thereon) is passed through the opening 22 of the eye member while the latter is in the condition shown in Fig. 3, Then the ends of the eye are brought together with the neck portion I8 positioned between the fingers. The fingers are then forced towards each other so that their ends abut (as shown in Fig. 5), and thus the neck portion I8 is securely locked in the closed slot 2|. Thus, the eye is securely held in its closed or looped condition. The tongue I4 is then secured in place on the hook member by the sleeve I5. It will be observed that there is sufficient clearance between the upper end of the sleeve and the head I3 to allow the eye to swivel relative to the hook member.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, it will be observed that, while my improved eye may be very economically manufactured at a relatively low cost, it is very sturdy, the connection between the ends of the blank from which the eye is formed being such as to prevent the eye from opening up when it is subject to strain.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. A swivelled eye or loop for a hook comprising an elongated strip of metal bent upon itself to form a closed loop, said strip having an opening adjacent one end to loosely receive an end of the hook, said one end of the strip outwardly of the opening being provided with a second opening and a split portion from said second opening,

through said one end of the strip, the opposite end of the strip having a T portion disposed through said second opening.

JOHN B. FRE'YSINGER.

T portion disposed 10 

